I had a hard time falling asleep that night. The pattering of the rain hitting the windows and the constant booming of thunder didn't help at all. I finally dozed off around one thirty.

I'd been sleeping soundly when I felt something—a blast of cold air. My eyes flew open with a start as I sat up in bed. I rubbed my eyes as I searched for the clock. Two on the dot. My eyes scanned my room. I'd felt something—I had—something light and icy cold. I couldn't see anything that resembled a ghost or some other demonic thing and for one wild second I thought maybe one of the boys was playing a trick on me.

Suddenly, another rush of air flew through the room, encircled me and vanished. I hadn't seen anything, but I was positive that something had happened, something that couldn't be blamed on exhaustion or dreams. I was wide awake. I had an idea of what it was but it was so ridiculous that I nearly lay back down. A third final wave of freezing air washed over me and I hopped out of bed, threw the door open and sprinted to Caleb's room.

Thunder boomed as I stood in front of Caleb's door, freaking me out. I debated whether to knock or just barge right in. He's my brother, I thought. I barged right in.

He was sitting up in his bed, leaning against the enormous headboard, staring out the window as lighting flashed, revealing me in the doorway. He jumped.

"Damn it, Char!" he gasped. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry," I responded, padding over to his bed before another peal of thunder could catch me off guard. "I didn't think you'd be awake."

"That doesn't give you an excuse to scare me to death."

"Caleb, I'm sorry. Calm down," I sighed. "That's not why I came. Did you feel that—that rush? It was a blast of cold air, like when you open up the freezer in hot weather."

His face clouded. "Yeah, that's why I'm up. I was sleeping pretty soundly, too—I didn't even know there was a thunderstorm."

I sat on the edge of his bed. "What do you think it was?"

"I have a pretty good idea," he said.

"I think someone was using the Power," I said. "I mean, we both felt it—multiple times—what else could it be?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought, but who would use it in the middle of the night?" he mused. We were quiet for a second, thinking.

"Reid." We said it at the same time and exchanged a knowing glance. Reid was the most careless with the Power out of the five of us—it'd be just like him to do that.

"It had to be him, who else would use it at this time of night?" I said.

"I'll ask him tomorrow—I'm going to call Pogue. I wonder if he felt it. Go back to bed. Come tell me if you feel it again."

"Kay." I hurried back across the hall, looking around nervously as if there was some sort of spirit thing lurking in the shadows watching me. Get a grip, I told myself as I dove into the warm covers. It's just Reid. . .it has to be. Who else was there? I was asleep before I could think of an answer.

Luckily, I slept soundly for the rest of the night. As far as I knew, no other blasts of cold air had come back. The grey morning air woke me up eight—too early for a Saturday morning, but once I was up, I was up for good. It was the first week of September, and though it was still technically summer, it felt like an autumn day.

I shivered into a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt and quickly glanced at a mirror and the results sent me scrambling for a hair band to hide the mess of my hair before going downstairs for breakfast.

Caleb was already awake. I found him in the kitchen scrambling eggs. Mother was nowhere to be seen.

"Morning, Char," he said.

"Hey." I walked to the cupboard and pulled out a box of cereal.

"You didn't see or hear anything else last night, did you?" he asked.

"No…you?"

"I didn't, at least I don't I did."

"What did Pogue say?" I asked between bites.

"He felt something similar, so it wasn't just us. I haven't asked Tyler, though I doubt it was him."

"He was probably dead to the world."

"Yep." He finished the eggs and piled them on a plate.

"Mom still sleeping?"

"Yeah. Finally got her to go to bed around one. She was really messed up." He sighed. "These last few months have been really hard on her—and my birthday around the corner doesn't help anything."

"Not your fault—it's gonna happen anyway."

"I know, I just have a lot to think about right now. Have you seen this?" he asked, sitting down across from me, plopping his plate of eggs down in front of him. He passed today's newspaper to me. In the center of the front page was an article that immediately grabbed my attention.

Student Found Dead From Overdose

"Whoa," I murmured. "This must've happened last night, soon after we left…"

"I was thinking that. This kid went to Spencer. Don't kill me for thinking this, but those blasts of cold air happened in the middle of the night and Reid probably didn't get back until close to two. . .you don't think…?"

I shook my head repeatedly. "No. No way. Reid wouldn't do something like that. He may use it a lot, and he may act like a jerk sometimes, but he would never kill a person."

He sighed. "I know…I just couldn't help but think that. I know he wouldn't do anything like that."

"So, anyway, what were you planning to do? I need to get some stuff for school and it's raining anyway, so we can't go outside…" I smiled a little grin. "Would you please take me to the store?"

"Yeah, if you put the puppy dog face away. I need to get Mom a few things anyway. So," he looked over at the clock, "should we go by nine?"

Nine. That gave me forty minutes to get ready. "Yeah. That's fine. Sounds good."

"Okay. Don't slack."

"I won't." I stood up, took my dish to the sink and rinsed it. "I'm going to go get ready."

"Okay."

When I got to my room, I changed into jeans and grabbed a hoodie. I was mad that it was this chilly this early. I hoped it was be temporary. I went to the bathroom next to try and tame the mess of hair. It took awhile, but I succeeded.

Next order of business was makeup, finding socks and shoes and getting money. I was done by quarter to nine and I nagged Caleb to leave a little earlier since he was ready to go by the time I was. He agreed—only after I bugged him for awhile.

The rain had gone but the air was misty and damp. As soon as we were in the car, I fiddled with the knobs to get the heat to come on. I turned on the heat to maximum. Caleb turned to me as warm air gushed from the vents.

"Really?" he asked. "It's September."

"It's freezing," I shivered. "Just leave it on until the car warms up."

"Fine." We pulled out of the driveway and soon we were on the main road. It was lined on both sides with trees with their colors in the middle of changing for the fall. The oranges, yellows, greens and red mixed together as we drove, creating a beautiful, dizzying blur.

Caleb was on the phone now with Pogue. I strained to hear what they were saying, without being too obvious.

"What makes you think it was Reid?" asked Pogue.

"It's always him," Caleb responded. "But I've never felt it when one of us have used the Power before."

"Maybe it's because you're so close to ascending."

"Charlotte felt it, too—three times—last night."

"Maybe because you live in the same house, because you were so close to each other? Maybe because you're brother and sister?"

"I don't know, but it was strong enough to wake me out of a dead sleep."
I nodded in agreement even though Pogue couldn't see me.

Pogue lowered his voice significantly and I strained to hear. "You know he's only using his powers to piss you off because he's jealous you're ascending first."

Suddenly in front of me was a figure that looked identical to the dead kid in the newspaper. I screamed and Caleb looked over and yelled. His phone fell to the floor. Before our eyes, the kid's face changed in a grotesque way before his neck stretched so far that it was breaking off. He vanished before our eyes a second later. I was breathing hard and Caleb and I shared on look: What the hell was that? I looked out the front window and we were suddenly in the path of an oncoming semi.

"Caleb!" I screamed.

Expletives from Caleb lit the air as the semi came closer. I gripped the sides of the seat so tightly my hands were bone white.

"Charlotte." Caleb looked at me and nodded. Our eyes went black.

We collided with the semi then—metal screeching and twisting, glass shattering and breaking. I screamed even though I didn't feel any pain. It was like being on a roller coaster right as you were going down the first enormous drop.

We passed through the truck and skidded to a stop. Caleb was panting hard and I was lightheaded. Behind us, the semi was unscathed and was driving away.

"You okay?" Caleb panted.

"Yeah…you?"

"Fine. That was really close."

"Ya think?"

I could hear Pogue's voice yelling through Caleb's phone from where it lay by my feet. Caleb eased slowly onto the road again as I put his phone on speaker.

"Caleb! Charlotte! Pick up the phone! What's going on? Caleb, man, pick up the phone!"

"Pogue, it's me. Calm down. We're okay."

"Char?" he asked.

"Yeah. Caleb's driving."

"What happened?"

"Pogue, I—we—just saw a darkling. It was in the form of that dead kid from Spencer."

"Yeah, I saw his face in the newspaper. But who would send you guys a darkling?"

"I don't know…but something's wrong. I can feel it." Caleb leaned over and spoke into the phone now.

"Look, we gotta talk to Reid tonight. He'll be at Nicky's so we'll see him then."

"Yeah. Definitely. I'm giving the phone back to Charlotte. See you later."

"Bye Caleb."

"Hey Pogue," I said. "It's me again."

"Hey Char. You okay?"

"Yeah…kinda freaked out, but I'm okay."

"Well, I'm getting my bike fixed now. Take care of yourselves."

"Will do…see you later."

"Bye Charlotte."

"Bye."

We drove in silence until we pulled up in front of on the store. Caleb went straight to the pharmacy to pick up some pills for Mother while I went to the magazines to see if there were any new issues.

"Charlotte?" a female voice asked.

I turned to see Sarah coming up the aisle with a basket slung over her arm.

"Hey Sarah," I grinned. "Long time no see."

"I'll say. What are you getting?"

"Oh, stuff. I told Caleb that I needed school stuff but I really wanted to get some new magazines and to get out of the house." I winked at her.

She laughed. "Is he here too?"

"Yeah…he's just getting my mom some medicine."

"Oh," a small smile crept onto her face. "Kate told me about your dad. I'm really sorry."

"Yeah," my face fell. "Thanks."

Kate came around the corner and the sandy-haired boy—Chase—on her heels.

"Hey Charlotte!"

"Hi Kate," I grinned. "And Chase," I nodded to him.

"Charlotte." He extended his fist and with a laugh, I punched it.

Caleb came around the corner and grinned. "Look's like the whole school's here."

"Pretty close," smiled Kate.

"Hey man." Chase held out his hand.

"Hey." Caleb shook his hand and dropped it. "Hi Sarah."

She responded with a grin—noticeably larger then the one she greeted me with. I smiled inwardly. I'd see what I could do to hook them up.

"Well, I'm gonna go see if Pogue wants to go see that new Brad Pitt flick this afternoon. Who else wanted to go?"

"I will," said Chase.

"I've got errands to run," was Caleb's answer.

"I've already seen it," Sarah responded and Kate shot her a sly grin.

"Wanna run errands?" asked Caleb to Sarah.

"Sure."

"I'll go to the movie," I said. It looked pretty good and what else was I supposed to do on a rainy Saturday? Also, Caleb could be with Sarah.

"Okay. I'll see if Pogue wants to go. I'll come pick you up around two, Char," Kate responded.

Caleb and Sarah worked out times while Kate and I paid for everything. On the drive home I kept expecting the dead kid to reappear. I shivered at the way his head had just broken off of his body before disappearing.

We got back home without anymore demonic intrusions. Caleb gave slipped into Mother's room to give her the medicine and then he had to go get Sarah.

"Bye loverboy," I said. "Be good."

"If I wasn't running late I would pound you," he said.

"Then get out of here!"

Kate picked my up at quarter to two. It was just she and I. She said that Pogue hadn't been able to come and that Chase would get there on his own.

The movie was long, and it kind of sucked. There were some good fight scenes but that was about it. When I got home, it was five and Caleb was already there.

"Hey, bro," I said, flinging my stuff onto the floor before flopping onto the couch adjacent him.

"Hey…how was the movie?" He didn't look up from the book he was reading.

"It sucked for the most part."
"Oh, glad I didn't go."

"I'm sure you're glad," I muttered.

"What?"

"How was 'running errands'?"
"Fine."

"Come on, Caleb, you know you had fun."

"Okay, fine. I did, but I don't think I'll take her back to the colony house. Gorman took a shot at us."

I laughed. "Poor Sarah. Our family is so bizarre."

"Yeah, but she seemed okay. She's pretty easygoing."

"You like her, don't you?"

"Char, don't even go there. We're friends."

"Caleb James Danvers, there's more to it then that and you know it," I cried.

"Okay, okay. She's pretty and fun to be with and has a good sense of humor. Happy?"

"For now." I sat up. "What time are we supposed to go to Nicky's?"

"We're supposed to be there by 5:30."

"I'm going to go get ready. Mom still sleeping?"

"Yeah. She seems to be better. I think we should just let her rest."

I decided to put on a tank top because Nicky's was always overheated—and there were always cute boys there. I applied a fresh bit of make-up and put on my jean capris before dragging Caleb out the door.

It was crowed and noisy when we walked inside. Caleb especially went there regularly, and because I was his sister, everyone knew me. I sat with Kate, Sarah, Chase and Caleb talking about the movie until Pogue came by. When he walked in, Kate had been laughing at something Chase had said and I could tell he didn't look too happy. Seeing the foosball table was open, Caleb and Chase went to go take advantage of the situation. I sat for a minute before going after them.

"You guys are real tight huh?" Chase was saying.

"Yeah, our families are real close. We grew up together. Kinda like brothers."

"And sister," I added. Chase looked at me.

"You're Charlotte, right?"

"Yeah."

"How old are you?"

"I'm fifteen."

"Wow," he said, looking genuinely surprised. "I thought you were sixteen or seventeen."

I laughed. "Caleb's seventeen. I'll be sixteen in January."

Caleb lost the game and then I asked to play. We were soon fighting for the ball and he seemed surprised that I gave him a real fight. Pogue came by and informed us that Reid and Tyler were here—and so were Aaron and his group.

"Great. That's trouble," Caleb said.

"So Caleb tells me you guys are swimmers," Chase said.

"Spencer's best. State finals twice." I responded, concentrating on the ball.

"You are, too?" he asked.

"Yeah. She's killer at the butterfly." Caleb looked at me with pride. I grinned.

"I'm a freestyle man," Chase laughed.

"Not here," said Pogue. "That's Caleb's swim."

Chase laughed again and for the next few minutes we concentrated on the game. I won buy four points and I could tell Caleb and Pogue was fighting back the urge to laugh. Joan Jett's 'I Love Rock and Roll' came blaring out of the speakers and Sarah walked over and pulled Caleb to the dance floor. They soon were dancing and laughing and singing along to the music.

Over by the pool table, I heard a smash and I turned to see Reid shove Aaron and get shoved back. More glass shattered and I saw Pogue weaving his way towards Caleb before the two of them went over to Reid and Tyler. I could tell that both Aaron and Reid were pissed and that a fight was closing to breaking out.

Chase came over to me and told me to come over to sit with Kate and Sarah. I sat on the edge of my seat anxiously, though I knew the boys could take care of themselves and then some. I saw Nicky go towards the door they'd gone out with a baseball bat before coming back in. Aaron and his friends came in and as soon as they'd left, I jumped up and went to the door.

On the other side I could hear yells and glass shattering. My mouth became dry. Aaron had already gone so the must be fighting amongst each other—and they were probably using It, the morons. I couldn't make out most of what was being said, but I could understand a little.

"When you ascend you'll be as good as dead!" That was Caleb, no doubt.

"I didn't use later!" Was the next thing I heard and I recognized the voice as Reid's. Seconds later, he came through the door. He was panting and his eyes with dark with anger. He threw one glance at me, and then shuffled off out of my sight. I cracked the door open a little.

"It's not right using it on each other, Caleb," Tyler said. I couldn't see my brother's face, but I knew he was mad.

"Tell it to Reid," he shot back.

Tyler left and walked past me. My eyes asked him if everything was okay and he shook his head.

"Reid's lying," said Caleb, running his fingers through his hair. "Had to have been him."

"How do you know?" asked Pogue.

"Because it wasn't you or Charlotte, Tyler doesn't have the guts to lie to me—"

I opened the door all the way then. "Hey."

They turned. "Hey," answered Caleb. That was all he said out loud but his eyes asked me how long I'd been standing there.

"You guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Pogue said for the both of them.

"Let's go," I said. "Everyone's wondering where you are."

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

I rode home with Sarah and Caleb, who dropped me off first before leaving to take Sarah back to Spencer. I sent him off with a knowing look. This was what I'd been hoping for. After seeing how he acted at the party the night before, then asking Sarah to run errands with him, and then the two of them dancing with each other at Nicky's, I just knew that they were good for each other.

It was ten when I got inside—not too late but last night's lack of sleep was weighing on me so I checked on Mother before turning in.

With a grateful sigh, I slipped under the covers and turned out the light, feeling pretty content. Mother was better, Caleb was with Sarah and there'd been no more signs of someone using the Power like last night. I fell asleep easily, but the night proved to be terrifying.